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<font size="1"><a href="https://orinocotribune.com/amidst-blockade-and-spiking-cases-venezuela-welcomes-230-cuban-doctors-to-fight-covid-19/">https://orinocotribune.com/amidst-blockade-and-spiking-cases-venezuela-welcomes-230-cuban-doctors-to-fight-covid-19/</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Amidst Blockade and Spiking Cases Venezuela Welcomes 230 Cuban Doctors to Fight Covid-19</h1>August 17, 2020</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>Foreign
Minister Jorge Arreaza thanked the 230 Cuban doctors who arrived in
Venezuela on Sunday night, August 16; who are added to the health care
initiative to combat Covid-19 in Venezuela.</p><p>This new contingent
joins more than 21 thousand collaborators in health matters that work in
Venezuelan territory as part of the existing cooperation agreements
between Cuba and Venezuela.</p><p>Upon receiving the new contingent of
health professionals, Minister Arreaza mentioned how the bilateral
solidarity mechanism breaks with the blockade imposed by the United
States government against Cuba, Venezuela and any country that appeals
to international solidarity.</p><p><em>“It
is incredible that the government of the United States intends to
sanction those countries that receive Cuban doctors,” he said.</em></p><p>In
that sense, he reflected on the double standards that Washington
practices in preventing peoples from working together for their own
well-being and development.</p><p><em>“The ruling elite that makes war,
that sends weapons, that promotes death, violence, that finances
terrorism, intends to sanction those governments that take care of their
peoples, call Cuba and ask for solidarity and scientific knowledge.
That shows us that we are on the right side of history.”</em></p><p><strong>Brotherhood and cooperation</strong><br>
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza stressed that in the face of
difficulties, Cuba and Venezuela will get closer and closer to find
solutions and joint strategies to overcome the obstacles imposed by the
US government.</p><p>He
said that “junctures like this one, of an unexpected, terrible
pandemic, allow us to continue deepening those ties and showing US
imperialism that nothing and no one can make our peoples separate, our
revolutions separate from each other.”</p><p>In that sense, he recalled
that thanks to the initiative of Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro,
materialized in cooperation agreements, “it is already part of our daily
life, of our life, to know that your side, in your neighborhood, in
your town, in your village, in your neighborhood, a few meters away
there is a Cuban doctor, a coach, a nurse or a collaborator in education
missions.”</p><p>He added that there are several months of resistance
left, while the tests for the application of vaccines against Covid-19
progress and he stressed that until that happens, Venezuelan health
professionals have the collaboration of medical personnel from Cuba.</p><p><em>“We count on you doctors, nurses. Receive the gratitude of Venezuela from the depths of our hearts,” he said.</em></p><p><strong>Heroic example</strong><br>
“I lost count of how many millions of Venezuelan lives have been saved
thanks to Cuban health personnel,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister
Jorge Arreaza upon receiving the 230 doctors who arrived from the
Caribbean island.</p><p>He expressed his gratitude on behalf of
President Nicolás Maduro and reiterated that there is no award or
recognition that values the human contribution that the solidarity and
cooperation of Cuba represents, especially in health.</p><p>“In
Venezuela you are heroes and heroines,” were the words of Foreign
Minister Arreaza to the medical staff when he welcomed them.</p><p>The
event was attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Caracas,
Dagoberto Rodríguez, and the Minister for Health of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela, Carlos Alvarado.</p><p><em>Featured image: chancellor Jorge Arreaza addressing the Cuban doctors. Courtesy RedRadioVE.</em></p><p>(<a href="https://redradiove.com/en-medio-del-bloqueo-venezuela-recibe-a-230-medicos-cubanos-que-se-suman-a-la-lucha-contra-la-pandemia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RedRadioVE</a>)</p><p>Translation: OT/JRE/EF</p><div><p><br></p></div></div></div></div>
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